Monday, June 20, 2011

NBC Edits Out "Under God" and "Indivisible"

To their worldwide audience, NBC cut the words "under God" and "indivisible" from their lead in segment to the U.S. Open yesterday.

Their apology was perhaps more telling than their action.

Here's what happened.

NBC's apology went like this:

“We began our coverage of this final round just about three hours ago and when we did it was our intent to begin the coverage of this U.S. Open Championship with a feature that captured the patriotism of our national championship being held in our nation’s capital for the third time. Regrettably, a portion of the Pledge of Allegiance that was in that feature was edited out. It was not done to upset anyone and we’d like to apologize to those of you who were offended by it.”---H/T SBNation and Christopher McCloskey of NBC.

But it didn't capture the patriotism. Patriotism traditionally includes the idea that our freedoms are granted by God and that we are "one nation, indivisible..." neither of which seemed important to NBC. And is their regret only because they angered some of their viewers who were bold enough to contact them? Not because they attach any particular importance to these components of the Pledge?

I have linked their lead in segment here. I have personally edited thousands of hours of video that was broadcast at the network level. You don't inadvertently omit or include anything. It's all very intentional.

What do you think?Be Vigilant. Be Discerning. Be Active. Be Prayerful.